The CEO of Western Sugar Rodney Perry spoke with the members of Fort Morgan City Council on Tuesday night to discuss wastewater treatment, potential annexation, and a “beautification project.”

The city of Fort Morgan and Western Sugar are currently negotiating options and costs involved regarding the treatment of wastewater. The city’s policy is that if someone is going to receive services outside of the city limits for sewer, they have to pay double the rate.

City Manager Jeff Wells said that the city is looking at a realm of possibilities in helping with water treatment issues coming from the factory which is the primary cause of the odor. He stated that the city is committed to helping Western Sugar finance a portion of the capital investment fee required to tie Western Sugar into the city’s water treatment system.

Perry has requested that Fort Morgan charge Western Sugar the single rate for the services, without having to annex into the city.

Wells said that he would like to keep the rates fair and consistent and he “would like to stick to policy.” He mentioned that if Western Sugar agrees to pay double the rate, that the city would be potentially committed to reinvesting a portion of the double rate back into the infrastructure that Western Sugar would use.

“We’ve been working very closely with Western Sugar to discover potential ways that we can assist their company in dealing with some of the problems that have been impacting our community,” Wells said. “We’d like to get the problems fixed sooner rather than later, because as a citizen of Fort Morgan who lives only a couple blocks away from the factory, I can tell you it’s just not very fun.”

“We are in a position where we’re planning to spend a lot of money over the next couple years to deal with the wastewater on the site,” Perry said. “We’ve recently added twelve new high-paying positions, and we’re one of the largest purchasers of electricity and water.”

Perry said he wants to create a partnership that benefits both his company and the city with rates that are “fair and reasonable.” He wants Fort Morgan to consider the amount of money that Western Sugar would bring to the wastewater facility, even with the single rate. “It’s going to be a lot less viable if we’re charged double,” Perry said. “It would be very difficult to make that work.”

The double rate is particularly unattractive to Perry because Western Sugar has already committed $40 million to building infrastructure to more effectively treat wastewater.

Perry mentioned that Western Sugar is also planning a number of beautification projects this summer, including adding grass and trees, painting some walls, and getting roofs repaired. “We want to put ourselves in the position of someone who is driving along I-76 and making a stop in town,” he said. “We want to make things look and smell better.”

Councilmember Kevin Lindell asked Perry why he was hesitant to annex into the city. Perry said that he doesn’t know what annexation would entail and he would prefer to sit down with the city manager to “put pencil to paper.” He said there hasn’t been any discussion of what the annexation would mean for Western Sugar or the city.

“I’m tickled with what you’re doing to make the plant look better, cleaning things up, but the plant has been an eyesore for the people who are coming to Fort Morgan and sort of an oxymoron for the quality of life of the people who live here in the city,” Lindell said. “I know people who have lived in Fort Morgan their whole life who have moved away because the odor dramatically decreases their quality of life.”

“We haven’t always listened as well as should have, but we are now.” Perry said. The CEO is expected to meet with council again after negotiating a rate for wastewater treatment that works for both Western Sugar and the city.